Northbrook signs five-year garbage contract

June 12, 2013|By Alexandra Chachkevitch, Chicago Tribune reporter

Village of Northbrook is scheduled to enter into a new agreement with Advanced Disposal, a company that has been picking up trash for Northbrook residents for more than 20 years. The deal will save almost $400,000 annually for residents in the community. (Handout, Advanced Disposal)

Northbrook officials have negotiated a five-year contract with a local trash service that they say might save residents roughly $400,000 annually.

After dealing with Advanced Disposal Services Solid Waste Midwest LLC for more than 40 years, village officials decided this year to seek bids for trash collection, said Kendal Maltas, assistant to the village manager.

"We were doing our due diligence, and we just wanted to make sure we had the appropriate rates," Maltas said.

Five proposals were submitted and from them, staff chose Advanced Disposal and Waste Management to forward to the village's Communications and Legislation Committee, which decided to go with the current provider because of the projected cost savings.

"Advanced Disposal was absolutely, I think in my view, the clear winner in that race," said Trustee Kathryn Ciesla, committee chairwoman, during a recent trustees meeting. "… The savings and ups in the service will touch probably every household in the community."

Under the agreement that will go into effect on Sept. 1, residents with curbside pickup once a week will save $3 per month with a rate of $16.20, while twice-per-week pickup rate will go down by $2 to $21.50. The seasonal yard waste cost will drop to $125 from $192.

Other rates will either not change or will drop by less than a dollar.

Florida-based Advanced Disposal, which formerly was Veolia Environmental Services, bills residents directly for whichever level of service they choose. It services about 10,000 households in Northbrook, said Melanie Williams, company spokeswoman.

"We're happy we're the provider of services again this time around," Williams said.

Trustees were pleased with the process and thanked other companies for participating.

"While it's not a very sexy topic," Trustee Todd Heller said, "this is very important."

Trustee Michael Scolaro added, "This is tremendous savings and something we should be proud of."